Phoenix's Past
by GPhoenix
Summary: Gabriel was the foreighner student in Hogwarts, stranfered from Portugal... but why? What was so dangerous on her past that made change schools? Only fate knew... until now.
1. Chap I – The ‘M’ Word

Chapter I - The "M" Word

Disclaimer: long sigh Yes, I don't have shame on my face nor I have anything else better to do than keep on making ficts about my characters. This one is another about Gabriel, this time, telling her story before she was transferred to Hogwarts when she was about to start her 6th year. After all, she didn't fall on Hogwarts from the sky...

I don't own the world and concepts created by J. K. Rowling, but I do own the characters present here. Take that Mrs. Rowling! Mwahahahahahah!!

-- -- --

"Gabriel? Gabriel! Gabriel Fénix Diniz, get down from that attic right now!" a harsh woman's voice echoed through the silent corridors and up the stairs into the dark attic. At one of the darkest corners a girl was bent over a large old wood trunk, holding a flashlight in one hand searching something inside.

"Gabriel!!" a man's voice this time and finely she took her head out of the trunk, showing a bored expression. She tucked her hair behind an ear and turned off the flashlight.

"Coming dad." She sighed and taking all the papers she had found, she crossed the attic, closing the door behind her. Her eyes took a while to get used to all that light, after the dimness of the upper room. She left her flashlight on her room on her way to the kitchen. She sighed before entering on the white and clean room.

"It was about time, little missy. You were about to miss your dinner with your parents." An old chubby woman smiled at her. Her silvery hair tied up on a bun shone in the artificial fluorescent light, her round old face was so caring, her hands, old and wrinkled, had so many stories to tell... and her voice, oh her voice... so calm, so many times talked her to sleep...

"I was searching for something for school tomorrow, Nanny. It's the last day of school and the teacher asked for a paper about something we like." The small girl smiled and shown all the papers and photos in her hands. "Look! It's about--"

"A little girl like you should go to the attic, Gabriel." Nanny walked to her and cleaned the dust she had on her nose, also taking away some spider webs the small girl had on her hair. "I could have looked that for you. Now, go and wash your hands, your parents are waiting in the dinning room."

"Oh, must I really...?" Gabriel said in a low voice before the perspective of having dinner with her parents.

"Yes, you must. After all you haven't been with them lately." Nanny smiled in such a tender way that Gabriel smiled back, and leaving the papers with the old lady, she went for the dinning room.

The two adults in white lab-looking gowns glanced at the small girl that came to the door. She was tying up her long golden brown hair in a ponytail. In silence she sat. Her mother, a slim short woman, glared at her behind the reading glasses. Her hair was dark brown and her skin pale. Her eyes swift then to the man on the head of the table. He also wore glasses, his wavy hair was just like Gabriel's. He rose his hazel eyes from the paper he was reading.

"These calculations are wrong, Maria." He said between the soup he was eating. "This way the cell won't last long. The glucose--"

"Leonardo, can we leave this for later? It's dinner time and we've been on the laboratory all day." Maria said looking at him in a serious way. "Later we can go back to the basement and count all the cells again, give it a rest for now, please dear?" Leonardo nodded but started to read the paper again. "Thank you."

Gabriel rolled her eyes and held her head in one hand, stirring her soup. Sometimes she hated that her parents were scientists. During that last month, she barely saw them, after they were assigned to study something for a famous university... something about cancer or cells. She missed the old days, when her parents had time for her.

"How was your day a school, Gabriel? What were you doing on the attic?"

She looked up at her father, a bit surprised. "My day was good... had a History test, I think I've passed. I'll know tomorrow, the teacher has to deliver our marks, as the classes will be over. And I have an essay to make for the Portuguese teacher about something I like."

"Oh really?" Maria looked interested. "And your essay will be about what?"

For a moment Gabriel smiled, feeling like her parents were trying to be part of her life again, feeling thrilled.

"Well, I wanted to do something about magic."

In that instance, everything stopped. Her mom and dropped the spoon on her soup and it splashed to her gown; her father was drinking a glass of wine and at the pronunciation of that word, he spitted the red liquid out. Gabriel stared at them and they stared at her.

"What?!" her parents said at the same time, looking eagerly at her and at Nanny, that had just entered the room with a big plate of stew.

"Magic." Gabriel said again feeling the odd tension in the air. "About magic tricks, illusionists. Like grandpa used to make."

"Oh, illusionists!" her mother said in a nervous way, trying to clean the carrot soup from her gown. "That's-that's... a god choice, isn't it dear?"

"Yes, yes it is." Her father agreed, now with a calmer expression on his face as he took off his gown stained with wine, so Nanny could take it to the laundry. He pushed his glasses up to his nose. "But why don't you do it about science instead? You like it and then we could help you."

"You don't have time to help me anymore, dad." Her voice sounded bitter. "Besides, science isn't that much of a mystery."

Nanny served the stew and the conversation ended there as her parents begun again babbling about counting cells and glucose. When dinner was over, her parents kissed her good night as she went up the stairs to her room. They looked at each other with concern.

"The M word." Leonardo whispered at his wife with a concerned face. She nodded as he held in a tight embrace.

"She's 11 years old and school ends tomorrow." Maria said back, rubbing her tired eyes. "We can only wait now..." they kissed and went down, to the lab they had on the basement.

-- -- --

Gabriel opened the door of her room, turning on the lights. It was a single room, the walls were baby pink and the furniture was white. The floor was fluffy due to the large rugs, and every corner was filled with teddy bears. The bookshelves were filled with books, she loved to read. Most of her books were about fantasy, about princesses and their enchanted knights, fairies and trolls, witches and wizards... most of them given to her by Nanny or belonged to her grandmother.

Gabriel went to her desk, the wall in front of it filled with drawings. She took out her coat and left it on the chair, turning on the TV. While she took out her clothes and dressed her pyjamas, she looked at the mirror. Everyone used to say that she looked at lot with her grandmother Grace. Gabriel was short for her age. Her hair was long and shiny, curly on the ends and coloured with a delicate golden brown, but the most appealing thing on her were her eyes, exactly like her grandmother's: expressive and coloured with and bright orange-ish brown colour. All her classmates, boys or girls, were taller than her, they always called midget. She didn't like that. She wondered if her grandmother was as short as she was. She couldn't recall her well. She had died when she very little, Gabriel only had a couple of memories from her... she mostly recalled her eyes everytime she saw her own.

"Ready to bed?" Nanny knocked at the door before entering. Gabriel was about to get into bed.

"Yeah, almost ready." She said when the old lady entered and started to fold her clothing and turned off the TV. "Nanny?"

"Yes, dear?" he old woman sat on the edge of her bed, giving her a unicorn teddy bear and a book, that was on her nightstand. Gabriel smiled and hugged the teddy then her bright eyes got dark.

"Did you notice mom and dad's reaction when I said my essay was about magic?"

"Oh dear..." she laughed and tucked the duvet around Gabriel "Don't get your parents wrong, they were just surprised."

"It looked beyond surprise. They spit out their food when they heard it!" she retorted.

"They are science people, they don't believe in magic." Nanny explained, her voice calmed down Gabriel's confusion and anger. "Oh, and I almost forgot. Aren't you going to make your essay?"

Nanny winked at her and took behind her back a pack of papers that she left on top of the duvet. Gabriel looked suspicious at the old woman, because she was almost certain that she had nothing behind her back when she entered the room. Gabriel sat then and spread the photos and letters on the bed. "Will you help me, Nanny? After all, you used to tell me all those stories about magic..."

"Of course, dear." Nanny got up and opening a drawer in Gabriel's desk and took out a sheet of paper and a pencil.

While she done so, Gabriel gathered the photos. All of them were really old, still in black and white, and most of them were about her grandfathers: Roberto and Grace Diniz. She took one, observing the two young people on it.

"Grandma was beautiful." Gabriel said when Nanny sat again, showing her the photo.

"She was English, a very educated noble lady." Nanny said as she remembering. "She was an English teacher, in a school in Lisbon. Your grandfather met her during a seminar."

"Why mom doesn't talk about grandpa? I mean, after grandma died, I only saw him one or two times." Gabriel said taking a new photo looking at the elegant man on it.

"He lives now in England. He was very different from the ordinary people, so he moved to England. He didn't like it here much." Nanny took some of the papers spread on the duvet.

"The last thing I remember about him, I was still very little, was that he made some kind of trick and made a rose appear from the thin air and left it on grandma's grave. Then mom took me away and I never saw him again." Gabriel said, trying to remember all the man's gestures on that day, the last time she had saw her grandfather Roberto. As far as she remembered, he was already an old man, had short light hair, always combed back in a very noble, distinct way. He was tall and well built. His eyes were grey and his features were chiselled like in a stone statue. He always looked powerful and frightening. "Well, as far as I get it, he was an illusionist, or else, how'd he pull out that rose? Magic, wizardry, witchcraft... those don't exist."

"Do you think so? Do you believe that? From the bottom of your heart?" Nanny said with one of her enigmatic smiles.

"No..." Gabriel started and smiled, looking around to her room, to the teddies, to the drawings, to the books... "... and yes. I wish all about the magical world could be real! Just imagine Nanny!" Gabriel jumped from her and opened her arms. "To see unicorns and fairies in the forest! And mermaids on the sea... oh and Dragons, to fight them with shiny armours and sharp swords! And witches, to be able to have a wand and make spells! I'd turn Bruno into a frog if I could!" and laughing she fell on the bed. "I wish it all would be true..."

"If you believe in magic in here" Nanny placed her hand on Gabriel's heart and her eyes sparked with her warm smile "anything can come true. Now write about what you truly believe and you'll make your best essay ever, because it will come from the heart." She bent and kissed Gabriel on her forehead. "Good night, dear."

Gabriel started to write as Nanny spoke and didn't saw her leave. Nanny looked back at the small girl as she left the door, stepped out closing the door and the lights went out on their own. Gabriel looked at her side, as the lights went out, her bedside table lamp turned itself on. She glared at it with eyes wide open and let out a little giggle, looking at the closed door. She knew that Nanny was special... and magical.

She restarted to write again.


	2. Chap II – Telmo & Teodora

**Chapter II - T****elmo & Teodora**

"Thank you Gabriel, you can sit down now. Nice job."

If she could, Gabriel would now bury herself inside the nearest dark whole. As she walked through the lined rows of desks of her classroom, the laughter and the comments of her colleges echoed on her ears. And they weren't nice. She fell on her chair and hid her pinked face behind her book as one of her colleges walked up in front of the class to read his essay. She barely heard the boy start talking about soccer.

She felt so embarrassed. When she had left home to school, she was sure that her essay about magic and fantasy was a good essay, but when she started to read it out loud in front of the class and the teacher, as she started the first paragraphs, the other kids started laughing until she ended... and kept on laughing as she sat down.

"Hey Diniz!" she looked back to a big kid, three chairs behind hers called Bruno. "Watch out when you go home or the bad Witch from the West might come and get you!" and laughed as the others did the same. "Or maybe the monsters you have under your bed!"

Gabriel sunk even more behind her book. Now even her ears were pink. That was being the worst day of her life and she was glad it was the last one before vacations. She looked around to her classmates as they kept on laughing and repeating pieces of her essay, trying to imitate her voice. Only two kids weren't laughing. They were sat on the back of the class and both looked serious at her.

She stared back at them for a while. They always sat on the back of the room, always together. She thought it was strange that they hadn't laughed... but then again, they didn't talk much. Gabriel remembered their names: the Altor twins, Telmo and Teodora. She realised that she had never talked to them since they joined her class four years ago.

Telmo and Teodora were strange kids. Both were short and had dark auburn hair, Telmo's was short and spiky and Teodora's was by her middle back and straight. Both had pale skin and freckles and always dressed in dark clothing, most of the times with long coats, no matter if it was hot or cold. Their eyes were dark, almost black. In those four years they didn't make friends and usually hanged together. The other kids always found them strange and in some way abnormal because they didn't hang with them, or played with them, and barely spoke. They liked to be alone, reading books and talking in mute. But they were smart, the best of the class.

Gabriel quickly looked towards as she realised they knew she was staring at them, but inside she was burning with curiosity. She never saw who brought them to school or who went to pick them up... No one knew where they lived. They were strange and she wondered why.

-- -- --

"VACATIONS!!! Yay, we're free!!! Whoohoo!!!"

Paper and books were thrown into the air as kids ran out of classes after the bell ring, running to the sunny playground, almost running over each other. They were free, free for two long gorgeous months! Laughter and plans for vacations floated in the warm air.

"What are you going to do on your vacations, Gabriel?" She looked back when she heard her name. Three girls walked up to her and she smiled.

"Not sure Andreia." Gabriel said, adjusting her bag on her shoulder, taking off her jacket and tying it on her waist. "Depends on my parents' work but I don't believe I'll go out this year."

"Dad says we'll go to Paris this year." Said Marguerite, a tall girl with dark short hair, right next to the blondie Andreia.

"I'm going to Algarve." Said Andreia like it was the most important piece of news of the year "And this year mom will let me take Vânia with me!" she laughed and patted the shoulder of Vânia, the girl right beside her. "And when Marguerite arrives from France, she'll go too! It'll be so great!"

"Yeah I guess... Well, have fun." Gabriel said sincerely with a bit of jealous. "Send me a postcard."

"Yeah, yeah right. Bye!"

"Bye, have a nice summer." Gabriel waved at he girls and sighed, adjusting again her bag, brushing away a lock of her golden brown hair that kept on falling to her eyes, seeing them going away. She wasn't sure if Andreia, Marguerite and Vânia were really her friends. They always seemed to cut her off of their plans, but whenever they needed something they always came to her. With a sigh she walked to the school gates.

She had to cross the whole school to get to the gates. The school was big, had loads of grades on it, from grade one to the ninth grades. Then kids had to change schools. Gabriel couldn't believe she still had a couple of years there. Though she liked school, she didn't like _that_ school, or her class at least. Her classmates always picked on her, making her feel she didn't belong there. Sometimes she wished she could change schools...

Gabriel looked at her watch, it was almost 4 PM. For sure that Nanny had already a delicious little snack prepared for her! As her stomach groaned, Gabriel laughed and started running, the books and pencils bouncing on her bag until...

"Oh not now..." Gabriel moaned stopping on her tracks as she looked at the gates. Bruno and his posse were there, blocking her way.

"Hello Diniz. Nice essay you made today. Fairies flying around and all..." Bruno, a big and muscled boy with a bulldog-like face smiled at her, showing his yellow teeth. Gabriel made a sickened 'eeeww' sound almost in mute. "I think you didn't gave me your lunch money today."

"I never gave you my lunch money." Gabriel retorted stepping back as Bruno and three guys made her walk back into the school.

"You'll start now!" Bruno laughed but his giggled came out strange, like he was choking.

Gabriel stepped back until she couldn't do it anymore, being cornered against a wall. She looked back and to the sides, trying to see an escape route, but the boys had got her trapped. She swallowed hard now feeling afraid.

"Gimme the money." Bruno ordered.

"N-n-" Gabriel swallowed hard again, trying to be brave. "No!"

"What?!" Bruno looked at her with his green eyes wide open in amazement but that turned him even more furious. "Grab her Marco!"

A guy just as ugly as Bruno walked to Gabriel and grabbed both of her arms making her scream in pain as she tried to get free. She pushed and pulled, trying to escape from that firm grip as the boys laughed.

"Fight! Fight! There's a fight!" someone yelled and kids ran gathering around them, observing and ignoring Gabriel's pleads for help. Marco kept on holding her arms, squeezing hard so he'd be still.

Gabriel was on the verge of tears still pushing her arms away but Marco was too strong. It wasn't fair they'd be bulling on her because she was small and weak... it wasn't fair... just... wasn't... FAIR!! She clenched her teeth in rage as tears streamed down her red and hot face. She managed to grab Marco's shirt hard and yelled.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!" and pushed him away from her.

Before an astonished 'Ooooohhh' from the crowd, Marco literally flew back a couple of meters, past Bruno and hit the floor with a heavy thud. Then all it was heard was silence as the kids looked among each other. How could such a flimsy girl like Gabriel push away a guy like Marco at the point of making him fly?

Gabriel looked at her hands, trembling and pushed her now messy hair away from her face, pale as a ghost. She felt her hands and arms hot, making her tremble with the sensation. Panic was all over her face as everyone stared at her.

"Get her!" Bruno yelled at his friends. Without a second thought Gabriel ran away, pushing the other kids as Bruno and his posse followed her yelling. She ran as fast as she could, knees trembling and hair floating around her. She crossed the playground, dust floating under her feet as she ran, but she couldn't shake them off. The boys were fast and were already close behind her.

After turning the corner on the building near the ninth grade classrooms, Gabriel looked over her shoulder to see if they were close. And they were, dangerously close, waving their closed fists at her. She ran even faster until she tripped over the laces of her boots and fell. She felt the fabric ripping and felt pain on her knees. She quickly turned around to see blood on them.

Bruno stopped right in front of her, trying to catch his breath, tired and sweaty. "You-you can run" he said among deep breaths "But you can't hide!" he pushed up his sleeved and with clench wrists he walked to her, his friends right behind her.

Gabriel covered her head and yelled in fear "HELP!!!"

"Oi! What are you doing? Hey!! Shit!! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

Gabriel tried to see though her fingers why was Bruno screaming but the only thing she saw was two dark shapes in front of her. Beyond them, Bruno and his posse were running away like they had seen the devil. After running around the corner they were gone.

"Are you ok?"

"What?" scared, Gabriel backed away before she realised who was kneeled beside her. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, momentarily blinded by the sun. Then she realised it was a girl. In front of her, a boy was watching the kids running away, hiding something on his pocket. Seemed like... a stick or something, maybe a slingshot, Gabriel was not sure. She looked at the girl. "Teodora!" she exclaimed.

"Are you ok?" the pale girl asked again.

"Y-yeah..." Gabriel replied, observing Telmo walking towards them, looking at his sister with a slight smile.

"Your knee is bleeding." Teodora took a tissue out of her pocket and pressed it against Gabriel's knee.

"I don't think they'll come after you again today." Telmo said taking Gabriel's hand, helping her up.

"What have you done to them?" she looked at the twins, they now looked fairly normal, as they made sure that each other were okay.

"It doesn't matter, the important is, they won't be bulling with you anymore." Teodora said back. The kids looked among each other, they were the only ones there.

"How did you do that?" Telmo asked to Gabriel as he and his sister helped her to walk and sit down on a stone bench near the soccer field.

"Did what?"

"Near the gate, how did you push Marco away?" this time Teodora asked, taking another tissue as the other one was already full of blood, looking at her brother.

"I dunno... I just pushed him." She said pressing the tissue harder.

"Gabriel, the guy _flew_ away from you." Telmo stated looking at his watch.

Gabriel didn't reply after that statement. She had seen him fly, but how she did it, she really didn't know.

"Look, guys" Telmo and Teodora looked at her "Thanks for your help, you saved me and I really appreciate it, but now you'll have problems because of me. Bruno will be after you."

"We don't care." Teodora made a big smile. "We'll change school in September, we won't be here anymore. So that's not a problem."

"Oh! And to which school are you going?" Gabriel asked curious and became even more curious with the glance the twins shared among them.

"It's a... a boarding school." Telmo said and Teodora nodded vigorously.

Gabriel stared at the kids again, something telling her they weren't telling her the whole school and looked at her watch. She was so late. She hopped Nanny wasn't worried about her delay.

"We have to go home." Teodora said like she was following her thoughts and rose. "Can you walk?"

Gabriel tried to get up but she fell again on the bench. Her wounded knee was hurting. She sighed, nodding no. "I don't think I'll be able to walk home, I'll have to call my mom to pick me up. The thing is, I dunno if she's at home."

"Mom could help treating her wound." Teodora said to her brother that frowned a bit.

"I dunno... We never took anyone home." he said back crossing his arms. Both seemed to forget that Gabriel was there.

"I bet she won't mind, besides you heard her, she can't walk on her own." Then she added in mute. "Or... _WE_ could help her."

"We can't do that!" Telmo retorted in low voice looking at Gabriel sideways.

"I can make it home, it's not a big deal." Gabriel said. "I only have to walk slowly."

"Nono. We live near here we can help you, then mom or dad will take you home." Teodora smiled again and took her arm, putting it around her neck. Telmo sighed but did the same. Partially being held by the twins, Gabriel started to walk.

---- --- -- -

Note: Hmm... really not happy with this chapter. I have the impression I've repeated myself a lot... didn't I??? XD If you don't give me your opinion I'll surely kick your butt across the room! »-« Joking!


	3. Chap III – The Mysterious Altor Manor

**Chapter III - The Mysterious Altor Manor**

They walked in silence, both helping Gabriel not to make any extra effort on her knee. She was still wondering what they had done to scare Bruno like that, the king of the school, and why they had helped her. She had never talked to them. She wondered if she'd do the same thing if the situation had happened otherwise. She realised she would help them, because that was the right thing to do. It was a good explanation for their gesture towards her.

"You know," Gabriel looked at her left side, at Telmo "Your essay was actually very good but it had a couple mistakes."

"Mistakes?" she repeated and looked at Teodora.

"Yep, mistakes. Specially what you said about witches and wizards." The girl smiled. "You really think that _all_ witches and wizards are bad?"

"And that have big noses with huge warts and that all of them are old, ride brooms and have black cats?" Telmo kept on his sister's question.

"And have cauldrons on basements and eat little children that don't behave?" and Teodora ended her brother's question.

Gabriel smiled at them, even giggled a bit. The way they kept on talking interrupting each other but maintaining the same line of thought amused her.

"You guys talk like that all the time? I mean, interrupting each other but thinking the same thing?"

"Yes!" they said at the same time.

"Cool!" Gabriel said, swallowing a moan of plain. "Well, I only wrote about what comes on books. There they say that witches are bad, have warts on their nose and eat little children that don't behave."

"They are sooooooo wrong." Telmo laughed.

"What makes you say that?" Gabriel inquired, feeling again curious.

"It's just a gut feeling." Teodora completed her brother with a mysterious smile again and they fell into silence once more.

The avenue was empty, Gabriel realised she had never crossed that street filed with big houses surrounded by tall bushes and big iron gates. The sidewalk was quiet and very clean. On both sides of the road were big green trees. Everything there seemed huge but it inspired peacefulness. Gabriel took in a deep breath and in some odd way, she felt the pain on her knee diminish a bit.

"This is our house." Teodora said pointing to a dark red with two golden lions gate.

She pressed a button on the wall and the gates started opening slowly. Gabriel looked around amazed as they walked inside by the grey marble road. Before the house was a big garden with a very green and soft grass and roses, dozens of rosebushes everywhere, of all colours, scenting the air. There was also a large fountain on their left that had four unicorn statues pointing to each cardinal point. And birds, there were birds everywhere, some singing some screeching. Gabriel found it amazing that they even had owls.

"I hope mom is in the home." Telmo said looking around.

"I bet she's in the music room."

Gabriel didn't hear that, she was feeling impressed by the house. House?! Noooo, it was a manor! It was big, with big windows and big solid oak doors, with tall white walls. The manor looked like a small castle. It certainly was not the kind of home she was used to see.

"_They must be filthy rich!_" Gabriel thought amazed as the door opened and they walked in. The hall's floor was made of rich marble, with red and golden tapestries on the walls and white statues on the corners.

"Cadbury?" Teodora called and her thin melodic voice echoed through the walls and Gabriel shocked a giggled, making twins look at her.

"What's so funny?" Telmo asked a bit annoyed and steeps on the marble stairs became more hireable.

"It looks like you're calling a chocolate bar!"**** Gabriel and made a wide smile to prevent from laughing.

"We're calling our butler." Teodora said as annoyed as Telmo, but also smiling as a man came finely into view.

**TO BE CONTINUED... **_(unfinished chapter)_


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